A Nation's Crisis: Parents and Cults

I was reading a book last night Death Du Jour by Kathy Reichs. I came to a paragraph describing cults:

"The cult controls the recruit's time and environment. Diet. Sleep. Work. Recreation. Money. Everything. It creates a sense of dependency, or powerlessness apart from the group. As it does that it instills the new morality, the system of logic to which the group adheres. The world according to the leader. And it is defnitely a closed system. No feedback allowed. No criticism. No complaints."

Oh. My. god. My parents are cult leaders! How did this happen?! How did I not know?!

They told me when to go to sleep, when I needed to wake up, what was for breakfast, what was being made for dinner, how much allowance they would give me for the week, what to clean, when I could drive their car, when I could go to the movies and the mall with friends....

Proof:

• Once they told me I couldn't hang out with a certain friend because they were a "bad influence".
• Another time they told me that I had to get a job to pay for my car insurance. HOW DARE THEY!
• They told me that I could not eat cake for breakfast...or ice cream. I had to eat the eggs and bacon my mom made me. See? DIET CONTROL!
• I was not allowed to go to Lollapalooza...DAMN THEM!

And, last, but not least, my parents didn't care what I thought. I sure as hell wasn't allowed to provide feedback. Nothing was up for discussion. My Dad frequently ended his sentences with, "Period. End of Report". That meant shut the hell up. I would have been slapped into next week if I dared criticize them.

For all of you children out there...be careful. Your parents might be cult leaders, too. Consider this a PSA. I think someone should call the news stations...and CNN.